History WebAnimation / Childrinrskary

Ms. Towell has also published her first novel, [[Literature/SkaryChildrinAndTheCarouselOfSorrow Skary Childrin and the Carousel of Sorrow]].

* DontFearTheReaper: The Childrin may indeed be skary, but Death, despite the skeleton-in-a-cloak-with-a-scythe look, is a kindly and benevolent figure (and a bit of a {{Woobie}} too):

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Poor, poor Emmeline apparently ''wishes herself out of existence'' at the end of her story.]]

* EmotionEater: Mr. Creazil [[spoiler:draws power from Emmeline's [[ThePowerOfHate rage]] and apparently it's enough for him to obliterate an entire town. Whether he can eat any other emotions is unknown.]]

* GallowsHumor: In abundance.

* PluckyGirl: Shawnee. [[spoiler: She carries a ''pick-ax'' to confront the teenagers who are vandalizing her house!]]

* SilentScapegoat: [[spoiler: Ida, whose name is far too short to be spoiler-tagged on its own.]] What makes it worse is the fact that [[spoiler: her ancestors were the same way. They swore themselves to secrecy, even as they were persecuted and sometimes killed for supposedly causing strange incidents.]]

* LonelyRichKid: Emmeline. It's established early on that she has "everything a child could want".

* BadAss: In spades.
** [[spoiler:Mr. Creazil turns into a bona fide [[BigRedDevil demonic]] {{Kaiju}} to carry out Emmeline's revenge.]]
** Say what you want about [[RoyalBrat Genevieve]], but [[TakeOverTheWorld conquering the world]] in ''four days'' with an army of nothing but toys is no mean feat.
** [[spoiler:When their daughter is harmed, Shawnee's parents make a point of [[MamaBear proving they]] [[PapaWolf still care about her]]. With brutal slaughter.]]
** Stella, the girl who [[spoiler:kills Cupid]]. She owns a very badass [[LadyOfWar battle]] [[WomanInBlack regalia]], has an army of animate stuffed flying monkeys to carry out her bidding (and also carry her, in a chariot), is either a WickedWitch or a MadScientist (possibly both), and can throw a [[BladeOnAStick spear]] like nobody's business. [[RootingForTheEmpire Not surprising most people end up rooting for her in the short.]]

* BadassAdorable: Several of the characters, but particularly Stella from "Cupid's Last Stand" and [[spoiler:Ida, who presents a heroic example when she stands up to and defeats an EldritchAbomination armed only with her favorite song]].

* BittersweetEnding: For a few animations, but especially in "The Mockingbird Song".
* BodyHorror: You see ''intestines'' in "The Mockingbird Song." Also abundant among the zombies in "El Despertar."
** The complete vampire transformation in "The Mockingbird Song" is also quite graphic and horrifying, [[spoiler:particularly given that the viewer knows it awaits Shawnee after the end of the animation]].

** Also the leaf in parts 1 and 3 of "Death & Elsie."
* BlackBeadEyes: The standard eye design in "The Mockingbird Song."

* CreepyChild: This series uses it left and right, though Shawnee (from "The Mockingbird Song") is rather cute [[spoiler:despite being a vampire by the end of the animation.]]. Sometimes played straight, sometimes subverted.

* TheDeadCanDance: "El Despertar."
* DealWithTheDevil: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in "The Autumnal Collector", [[spoiler:although the Collector himself has a much more direct way of obtaining souls]].

** Also remarked upon in "Agony", when the narrator, a personification of pain itself, says that Death, while feared, delivers people from Agony and is troubled by his actions.

* DumbStruck: In "Ida's Luck", this is the fate of [[spoiler:the kindly Mrs. Pea, after she sees the monster in the barn. She never recovers.]]

* GhostTown: "The Little Girl Who Was Forgotten" takes place in "a town that doesn't exist..at least, [[HowWeGotHere not anymore.]]"

* JumpScare: [[spoiler:"Candy."]]

* MamaBear: [[spoiler: Shawnee's mother in "The Mockingbird Song". She ''rips those teenagers apart'' after they hurt her daughter.]]

* PapaWolf: [[spoiler: Shawnee's father in "The Mockingbird Song", after the teenagers attack Shawnee. They don't stand a chance.]]
* ParentalAbandonment: "The Mockingbird Song" contains probably one of the most heartbreaking examples of this trope ever. [[spoiler:At least until the very end, where it's revealed that Shawnee's parents never did stop recognizing her as their daughter even as they slowly lost their humanity.]]
* ParentalFavoritism: In "The Little Girl Who Was Forgotten" Emmeline's rage is triggered by her parents excitedly announcing the mother's pregnancy of a second child, after having ignored Emmeline herself for a very long time.

** Genevieve's as well; they shower her with toys and personal servants but don't actually give her personal attention and discipline. This is very subtly lampshaded in the beginning of the animation - when Genevieve gets into the elevator and goes to press the button for the floor she wants, the sign labelled "Mother and Father" is well out of her reach.
* ThePlague: Invoked in "The Black Halloween".

* SouthernGothic: The setting of "The Mockingbird Song" has shades of this.
* SpaceWhaleAesop: "Candy." [[spoiler: You'd better buy your Halloween candy a month in advance, or else you'll be visited by a little girl in an angel costume and her [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch-Abomination-in-a-Bucket!]]]]

* TeensAreMonsters: The gang of teenagers who appear in "The Mockingbird Song", altough Jimmy is by far the worst.

* UndeadChild: [[spoiler:Shawnee]], at the end of "The Mockingbird Song".

* WhenTreesAttack: "Don't Go Near The Old Ash Tree."

* ZombieApocalypse: The setting of "El Despertar" depicts one of these in a small, rural Spanish village.
** A more apocalyptic example occurs in "After the Stars Fell", [[spoiler:when a meteor shower causes an outbreak of violent laughing madness with similar effects to the parasite in VideoGame/TheLastOfUs]].

* HairDecorations: Genevieve wears two red bows in her hair. [[spoiler: Even as [[HairstyleInerta an old woman.]]]

* SilentScapegoat: [[spoiler: Ida, whose name is far too short to be spoiler-tagged on its own.]] What makes it worse is the fact that her ancestors swore themselves and the descendants to secrecy and, like her, they too were scapegoated, sometimes killed.]]

* EnfantTerrible: [[TinyTyrannicalGirl Genevieve]] is '''three years old.'''

* HairDecorations: Genevieve wears two red bows in her hair.

* LastOfHisKind: [[spoiler: Ida]] is specifically stated to be the last of the monster hunters.

* SilentScapegoat: [[spoiler: Ida.]] What makes it worse is the fact that her ancestors swore themselves and the descendants to secrecy and, like her, they too were scapegoated, sometimes killed.

* BookEnds: Emmeline sets the plot of her story in motion by [[MakeAWish wishing on a star]]. At the end, she makes another wish - on the same star, no less - [[spoiler: for herself and Mr. Creazil to fade from existence.]]

* [[spoiler:DrivenToSuicide: Poor, poor Emmeline apparently ''wishes herself out of existence'' at the end of her story.]]
* DumbStruck: In ''Ida's Luck'', this is the fate of [[spoiler:the kindly Mrs. Pea, after she sees the monster in the barn. She never recovers.]]

* TheVoiceless: Almost all of the main characters in the animations. Subverted with [[spoiler: little Ida]], who sings to drive back the monsters attacking her village.

* WhenTreesAttack: ''Don't Go Near The Old Ash Tree.''

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Generally, the shorts are usually in black and white (or in the case of ''Ida's Luck'' shades of blue), with little splashes of red. However, this isn't the case with ''The Autumnal Collector'', which has muted colors, and the ''Mockingbird Song''.

* TyrantTakesTheHelm: [[SpoiledBrat Guess]] [[EnfantTerrible who?]]

* TheVoiceless: Almost all of the main characters in the animations. Subverted with [[spoiler:Ida]], who sings to drive back the monsters attacking her village.
** A more tragic example in ''Ida's Luck''; [[spoiler: poor Mrs. Pea is literally scared speechless by the monster in the barn. She never recovers.]]

** A more apocalyptic example occurs in "After the Stars Fell", [[spoiler:when a meteor shower causes an outbreak of violent laughing madness with similar effects to the parasite in TheLastOfUs]].

* EyeScream: Genevieve's monocle-wearing toymaker is revealed to be missing that eye when the monocle falls off, as he and the others are looking over her plans.

* {{Jerkass}}: The kid in the ''Black Halloween''.

** A more literal example occurs in "After the Stars Fell", [[spoiler:when a meteor shower causes an outbreak of violent laughing madness with similar effects to the parasite in TheLastOfUs]].

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Generally, the shorts are usually in black and white (or in the case of ''Ida's Luck'' shades of blue]], with little splashes of red.

* [[LastOfHisKind Last of Her Kind]]: [[spoiler: Ida is specifically stated to be the last of the monster hunters.]]

* [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone My God, What Have We Done?]] The villagers of Caterwaul, immediately after throwing Ida into the lake to drown. [[spoiler: And then all hell breaks loose...]]

* OurDemonsAreDifferent: Mr. Creazil looks like a little devil, cloven hooves and horns and all. Of course, he is nice and friendly and adorable... [[spoiler:until Emmeline gets really, really angry. Also, he is implied to be little more than a soulless slave to Emmeline.]]

* [[spoiler: SilentScapegoat: Ida.]]

* [[spoiler: SuicideBySunlight: Shawnee's parents, after turning their mortally wounded daughter into a vampire.]]

* UndeadChild: [[spoiler:Shawnee, at the end of "The Mockingbird Song"]].

* TheVoiceless: Almost all of the main characters in the animations. [[spoiler: Subverted with Ida, who sings to drive back the monsters attacking her village.]]

* WeirdnessMagnet: Ida appears to be this, according to the people of Caterwaul.

* UnstoppableRage: Mr. Creazel, fueled by Emmeline's fury. He stops rampaging after she calms down.

* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:Mr. Creazil [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever grows to gianormous size]] when Emmeline becomes enraged, and turns into an absolutely terrifying demonic being. The poor town doesn't stand a chance.]]

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Stella in ''Cupid's Last Stand,'' and [[spoiler: Mr. Creazil in ''The Little Girl Who Was Forgotten''.]]

* ParentalFavouritism: In "The Little Girl Who Was Forgotten" Emmeline's rage is triggered by her parents excitedly announcing the mother's pregnancy of a second child, after having ignored Emmeline herself for a very long time.

* CompletelyMissingThePoint: Nanny-Anne tells a disappointed Genevieve that, "When I was a kid we only got toys twice a year." Genevieve takes it completely the wrong way.

** The trilogy is getting an animation adaptation as well, you can watch the first two installments [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_PXaDBIPR8 here]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfOSynJuN1M here.]]